ntic waves had been arrested by some mighty
force. In the foreground the somber verdure of the woods made splashes
of sober color on the yellow of the fields, while in the brilliant
sunlight the distant hills were bathed in purplish vapors. And while
nothing was to be seen, not even the tiniest smoke-wreath floating on
the cloudless sky, the cannon were thundering away in the distance, like
the muttering of a rising storm.

"Here is Sommanthe, to the right," Sambuc said at last, pointing to a
high hill crowned by a wood. "Yoncq lies off yonder to the left. The
fighting is at Beaumont, General."

"Either at Varniforet or Beaumont," Ducat observed.

The general muttered below his breath: "Beaumont, Beaumont--a man can
never tell where he is in this d----d country." Then raising his voice:
"And how far may this Beaumont be from here?"

"A little more than six miles, if you take the road from Chene to
Stenay, which runs up the valley yonder."

There was no cessation of the firing, which seemed to be advancing
from west to east with a continuous succession of reports like peals of
thunder. Sambuc added:

"_Bigre_! it's getting warm. It is just what I expected; you know what
I told you this morning, General; it is certainly the batteries that
we saw in the wood of Dieulet. By this time the whole army that came up
through Buzancy and Beauclair is at work mauling the 5th corps."

There was silence among them, while the battle raging in the distance
growled more furiously than ever, and Maurice had to set tight his teeth
to keep himself from speaking his mind aloud. Why did they not hasten
whither the guns were calling them, without such waste of words? He had
never known what it was to be excited thus; every discharge found an
echo in his bosom and inspired him with a fierce longing to be present
at the conflict, to put an end to it. Were they to pass by that battle,
so near almost that they could stretch forth their arm and touch it with
their hand, and never expend a cartridge? It must be to decide a wager
that some one had made, that since the beginning of the campaign they
were dragged about the country thus, always flying before the enemy! At
Vouziers they had heard the musketry of the rear-guard, at Osches the
German guns had played a moment on their retreating backs; and now they
were to run for it again, they were not to be allowed to advance at
double-quick to the succor of comrades in distress! Maurice looked a